You bend the flap of a bag and the leather at the fold suddenly turns a few shades lighter. Or you run a fingernail over it and a pale line appears, which disappears when you rub it with your thumb. That's pull-up leather. Crazy horse leather is a variation on it, with more wax and a rougher, mottled look.
What is pull-up leather?
Pull-up leather is leather that has been heavily loaded with oils and waxes after tanning. They don't sit on top as a coating but within the fibres of the grain. When you bend or stretch the leather, the oils and waxes move aside and the lighter base shows through. Let go and it usually settles back slowly. In the trade that effect is called the pull-up, and the leather is named after it.
It's usually full-grain leather, because the effect looks best on an intact grain. But the tannage can be anything: chrome-tanned, vegetable-tanned or a combination. A well-known example is Chromexcel from the American tannery Horween, made with a combination of chrome and vegetable tanning agents. So pull-up tells you about the finish, not about how the leather was tanned.
What is crazy horse leather?
Crazy horse leather is a type of pull-up leather with more emphasis on the wax. The surface is often lightly buffed or brushed and then worked with a generous amount of wax. The result is more matte and less even than ordinary pull-up leather, with cloudy lighter and darker patches that are there from the start. It looks worn in on the day you buy it.
The name has nothing to do with horses; it's usually plain cowhide. There's no official definition either: what one maker calls crazy horse, another calls vintage pull-up or waxed leather. So look at what the leather does rather than what it's called.
How to spot pull-up leather: three simple tests
- The bend test. Fold a piece of the leather, such as a handle or the edge of a flap. If the fold turns noticeably lighter, it's pull-up.
- The nail test. On a hidden spot, draw a fingernail lightly across the surface. A pale line that you can rub away with your thumb points to plenty of wax and oil. With crazy horse the effect is strongest.
- Touch. Pull-up leather feels slightly oily or waxy, and sometimes leaves a very faint sheen on your fingers. Ordinary smooth leather with a finish feels drier and more uniform.
Pull-up, crazy horse and standard vegetable-tanned leather compared
| Pull-up leather | Crazy horse leather | Vegetable-tanned full-grain (no pull-up) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looks when new | Even, slight sheen | Matte, cloudy, mottled | Even, natural grain |
| When bent | Clearly lighter | Much lighter | Barely any colour change |
| Scratches | Pale line, rubs away | Pale line, rubs away | Dark or light scratch, often rubs away |
| Ageing | Looks lived-in quickly | Lived-in from day one | Slow patina, darker and glossier |
| Feel | Slightly oily | Waxy | Drier, firm |
Is pull-up the same as patina?
No, though the two often get mixed up. Pull-up is a mechanical effect: wax and oil shift, and that's largely reversible. Patina comes from light, air, skin oils and time, and is genuinely in the leather. It doesn't go back. A pull-up bag can have both, but one isn't the other.
Pros and cons
The big advantage is that scratches and scuffs almost belong. You rub them out with your thumb or a dry cloth, and whatever stays looks like character. That's why pull-up and crazy horse leather are popular for work bags, boots and belts that take a beating.
There are less convenient sides too. Where the leather always folds the same way, such as the crease of a flap, a permanently lighter line appears over time. New crazy horse leather can transfer a little wax onto light clothing at first. And the lived-in look is also used to make average leather look more expensive: clouds and mottling hide flaws in the grain. At a low price, look closely at the edges and the inside, as described in the seven checks for good leather quality.
Care: less is more
With a scratch, always start with warmth and rubbing: your thumb or a soft cotton cloth, in small circles. The wax softens and flows back. Only when the leather feels genuinely dry should you use a little conditioner or wax, tested first on a hidden spot. Many products darken pull-up leather permanently, and on crazy horse that can come out patchy. Water also leaves a ring more easily on pull-up leather than on finished leather, so blot a raindrop dry rather than rubbing it.
What about Beocca's bags?
Our bags are made from vegetable-tanned full-grain leather, which ages mainly through patina. That's a slower process: the colour deepens over the months and the grain gets glossier where you hold it. A scratch on, say, the Milo weekend bag can often be rubbed out too, just by a different route. How that works is explained in removing scratches from a leather bag. If you love a bag that looks lived-in from day one, pull-up or crazy horse will suit you better. If you'd rather it got there over a few years, probably not.
